Month: December 2023

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith’s declaration on informally blessing same-sex couples or other non-married couples is a reminder that the Catholic Church and its pastors never close the door on people seeking God’s help, said a commentary published in Vatican media.

“The heart of a shepherd cannot remain indifferent to the people who approach him, humbly asking to be blessed, regardless of their condition, their history or the path of their life,” said the commentary by Andrea Tornielli, editorial director of the Dicastery for Communication.

“The shepherd’s heart does not extinguish the flickering light of one who senses their own incompleteness, knowing they need mercy and help from on High,” Tornielli wrote in a piece published Dec. 18 in multiple languages on the Vatican News website and in the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano.

The doctrinal dicastery’s document, “Fiducia Supplicans” (“Supplicating Trust”) was approved by Pope Francis during an audience with Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, dicastery prefect, Dec. 18 and published the same day.

Tornielli explained that it “opens the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations, including same-sex couples. It clarifies that blessing in this case does not mean approving their life choices and emphasizes the need to avoid any ritualization or other elements that may remotely imitate marriage.”

“The origin of the declaration is evangelical,” Tornielli said, because it draws from the myriad examples in the Gospels of Jesus breaking “traditions and religious prescriptions, respectability, and social conventions. He performs actions that scandalize the self-righteous, the so-called ‘pure,’ those who shield themselves with norms and rules to distance, reject and close doors.”

Everyone who approached Jesus “encountered His gaze and felt loved, recipients of an embrace of mercy given to them without any precondition,” Tornielli wrote. And “discovering themselves loved and forgiven, they realized what they were: poor sinners like everyone else, in need of conversion, beggars for everything.”

In his introduction to the declaration, Cardinal Fernández wrote that it “remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage, not allowing any type of liturgical rite or blessing similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion,” but it also explores the “pastoral meaning of blessings” in a way that opens “the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage.”

The church “remains firm” in teaching that marriage can be contracted only between one woman and one man, he said, and continues to insist that “rites and prayers that could create confusion” about a marriage and another form of relationship “are inadmissible.”

But, Tornielli wrote, the declaration also insists that a priest or deacon with a “shepherd’s heart” would see in a couple’s request for a blessing “a crack in the wall, a tiny opening through which grace might already be at work. Therefore, their first concern is not to close the small crack, but to welcome and implore blessing and mercy so that the people before them can begin to understand God’s plan for their lives.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A Catholic priest can bless a gay or other unmarried couple as long as it is not a formal liturgical blessing and does not give the impression that the Catholic Church is blessing the union as if it were a marriage, the Vatican doctrinal office said.

The request for a blessing can express and nurture “openness to the transcendence, mercy and closeness to God in a thousand concrete circumstances of life, which is no small thing in the world in which we live. It is a seed of the Holy Spirit that must be nurtured, not hindered,” the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith said in a formal declaration published Dec. 18.

The document, “Fiducia Supplicans” (“Supplicating Trust”) was subtitled, “On the pastoral meaning of blessings,” and was approved by Pope Francis during an audience with Cardinal Víctor Manuel Fernández, dicastery prefect, Dec. 18.

In his introductory note, Cardinal Fernández said questions about a priest blessing a LGBTQ+ or other unmarried couple had been sent to the doctrinal office repeatedly over the past few years.

The need for a fuller explanation of blessings became clear, he wrote, after Pope Francis responded to the “dubia” or questions of several cardinals in a letter released in early October.

In his letter, the pope insisted marriage is an “exclusive, stable and indissoluble union between a man and a woman, naturally open to conceiving children,” which is why the church “avoids all kinds of rites or sacramentals that could contradict this conviction and imply that it is recognizing as a marriage something that is not.”

At the same time, the pope said, “pastoral prudence must adequately discern if there are forms of blessing, solicited by one or various persons, that don’t transmit a mistaken concept of marriage.”

Cardinal Fernández said the declaration “remains firm on the traditional doctrine of the Church about marriage, not allowing any type of liturgical rite or blessing similar to a liturgical rite that can create confusion,” but it also explores the “pastoral meaning of blessings” in a way that opens “the possibility of blessing couples in irregular situations and same-sex couples without officially validating their status or changing in any way the Church’s perennial teaching on marriage.”

The church “remains firm” in teaching that marriage can be contracted only between one woman and one man, he said, and continues to insist that “rites and prayers that could create confusion” about a marriage and another form of relationship “are inadmissible.”

But in Catholic tradition blessings go well beyond the formal ritual used in marriage and other sacraments.

“Blessings are among the most widespread and evolving sacramentals. Indeed, they lead us to grasp God’s presence in all the events of life and remind us that, even in the use of created things, human beings are invited to seek God, to love him, and to serve him faithfully,” the declaration said. That is why people, meals, rosaries, homes, pets and myriad other things can be and are blessed on various occasions.

“From a strictly liturgical point of view,” the declaration said, “a blessing requires that what is blessed be conformed to God’s will, as expressed in the teachings of the Church,” which is why the then-doctrinal congregation in 2021 excluded the possibility of blessing gay couples.

But, the new document said, Catholics should “avoid the risk of reducing the meaning of blessings” to their formal, liturgical use because that “would lead us to expect the same moral conditions for a simple blessing that are called for in the reception of the sacraments.”

“Indeed, there is the danger that a pastoral gesture that is so beloved and widespread will be subjected to too many moral prerequisites, which, under the claim of control, could overshadow the unconditional power of God’s love that forms the basis for the gesture of blessing,” it said.

A person who asks for God’s blessing, the declaration said, “shows himself to be in need of God’s saving presence in his life and one who asks for a blessing from the Church recognizes the latter as a sacrament of the salvation that God offers.”

The church, it said, should be grateful when people ask for a blessing and should see it as a sign that they know they need God’s help.

“When people ask for a blessing, an exhaustive moral analysis should not be placed as a precondition for conferring it. For, those seeking a blessing should not be required to have prior moral perfection,” it said.

At the same time, the declaration insisted that the Mass is not the proper setting for the less formal forms of blessing that could include the blessing of a gay couple, and it repeated that “it is not appropriate for a diocese, a bishops’ conference” or other church structure to issue a formal blessing prayer or ritual for unwed couples. The blessing also should not be given “in concurrence” with a civil marriage ceremony to avoid appearing as a sort of church blessing of the civil union.

However, it said, a priest or deacon could “join in the prayer of those persons who, although in a union that cannot be compared in any way to a marriage, desire to entrust themselves to the Lord and his mercy, to invoke his help and to be guided to a greater understanding of his plan of love and of truth.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – Exchanging Christmas gifts and organizing holiday parties are all well and good, but Christians should contemplate the scene of Jesus’ birth to recover what is truly important during the Christmas season, Pope Francis said.

At his weekly general audience Dec. 20, just five days before Christmas, the pope told people that “the risk of losing what matters in life is great, and paradoxically increases at Christmas.”

“The atmosphere of Christmas is changing,” he said. “It’s true, if people want to give presents, that’s good, but with the frenzy of shopping, ‘go, go, go,’ this pulls one’s attention somewhere else, and there is not that simplicity of Christmas.”

For people caught up in the holiday rush, “there is no interior space for wonder” before the mystery of Jesus’ birth, but “only to organize parties,” he said.

Organizing parties is fine, “but with what spirit do I do that?” he encouraged people to ask.

After a band performed Christmas songs using traditional wooden instruments, Pope Francis entered the Paul VI Audience Hall using a cane. He read most of his lengthy catechesis, often departing from his prepared text to speak off-the-cuff and only occasionally pausing to catch his breath.

Recalling the first Nativity scene — a live one — staged by St. Francis of Assisi 800 years ago in Greccio, Italy, the pope said that the Nativity scenes being prepared by Christians around the world should provoke a sense of amazement in the humility of a God who became human.

“If we Christians look at the Nativity as something nice, something historic, even religious, and pray, that is not enough,” he said. “Before the mystery of the Incarnation of the Word, before the birth of Jesus, one needs a religious attitude of wonder. If I, before the mysteries, don’t arrive at this wonder, my faith is simply superficial.”

The Nativity scene in St. Peter’s Square at the Vatican this year is a recreation of St. Francis’ original Nativity scene and includes a figure of the saint and three other Franciscan friars, including a Franciscan priest celebrating Mass, just as one of St. Francis’ confreres did in the cave near Greccio on Christmas Eve in 1223.

St. Francis created the first Nativity scene “to bring us back to what matters: to God coming to live among us. That’s why it is important to look at the Nativity scene,” the pope said. He also highlighted how the many figures often included in Nativity scenes — Mary, St. Joseph, local herders and other figures close to Jesus — convey how God puts “people before things.”

“So often we put things before people; this doesn’t work,” the pope said.

Nativity scenes also depict great joy, he said, but that “is different than having fun.”

“Having fun is not a bad thing if it is done in the right way, it’s something human,” he said, “but joy is even more profound, more human, and sometimes there is the temptation to have fun without joy.”

The pope read an account of those who attended the first Nativity scene in Greccio and “returned home with an ineffable joy.” Such joy, he said, did not come from bringing home gifts or attending lavish parties, “no, it was the joy that overflows from the heart when one touches the closeness of Jesus, the tenderness of God who does not leave one alone but consoles them.”

“If before the Nativity scene we entrust to Jesus all that we have in our hearts, we too will feel a great joy,” he said, encouraging people to go to a Nativity scene, “look, and let yourself feel something in your heart.”

Pope Francis ended his audience by asking people not to forget those who suffer because of war, particularly those in Palestine, Israel and Ukraine.

“Let us think of the children in war, the things they see; let us go to the Nativity scene and ask Jesus for peace,” the pope said. “He is the prince of peace.”

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Vatican City State criminal court sentenced Cardinal Angelo Becciu to five years and six months in prison on two counts of embezzlement and one of aggravated fraud but found him not guilty of abuse of office or witness tampering.

The 75-year-old cardinal’s attorney, Fabio Veglione, told reporters his client would appeal.

The three-judge panel of the Vatican court handed down the verdicts late Dec. 16. In addition to Cardinal Becciu, five other people were sentenced to jail time ranging from three years to seven years and were ordered to pay the Vatican millions of dollars in damages.

Pending appeal, none of the six people given jail terms were taken into custody.

Only one of the 10 defendants, Msgr. Mauro Carlino, the former secretary of then-Archbishop Becciu when he served as “sostituto,” the No. 3 position in the Vatican Secretariat of State, was found not guilty of all charges.

Enrico Crasso, a long-time investment manager who often worked with the Vatican, received the stiffest sentence: seven years in jail.

René Brülhart and Tommaso di Ruzza, respectively former president and former director of the Vatican’s financial watchdog agency, now known as the Supervisory and Financial Information Authority, were “absolved” of the charge of abuse of office but were found guilty of negligence for not reporting a suspect financial operation. They each were fined 1,750 euros ($1,900).

The trial revolved around the Vatican’s investment in a property in London’s chic Chelsea district. But the way the deal was structured and restructured ended up costing the Vatican as much as $200 million. Cardinal Becciu was the No. 3 official at the Vatican Secretariat of State when the property deal, using money invested by the secretariat, was first made in 2014.

The cardinal and three others — Raffaele Mincione, Fabrizio Tirabassi and Enrico Crasso — were found guilty of embezzlement for taking $200.5 million from the Secretariat of State’s investment fund — a third of the entire fund — and investing it with Athena Capital Commodities.

The court described the fund as being “highly speculative” and risky, which violated Vatican guidelines and canon law on the use of church funds.

Mincione, who ran Athena Capital, was found guilty of money laundering for using the Vatican funds to buy the London property, but the court said Cardinal Becciu, Tirabassi and Crasso were not responsible for the London property disaster because they had no control over the money once it was invested with Athena.

The cardinal also was accused of embezzling money that he gave to a Caritas project run by his brother in Sardinia and for aggravated fraud for giving more than 570,000 euros of Vatican money to a woman named Cecilia Marogna, who claimed she could help win the release of a nun kidnapped in Mali.

Marogna was found guilty of being complicit in the aggravated fraud and was sentenced to three years and nine months in jail.

Nicola Squillace, a Milan-based lawyer who helped broker the London property deal, was given a 22-month suspended sentence.

The Vatican tribunal said it would confiscate the equivalent of about $181 million from those found guilty and ordered them to pay another $218 million in damages to the Secretariat of State, the Vatican bank, the Administration of the Patrimony of the Holy See, and Supervisory and Financial Information Authority.

The verdicts were announced two and a half years after the trial began; 86 courts sessions were held with more than 600 hours of testimony by some 69 witnesses. Hundreds of thousands of pages of documents, emails, text messages and transcripts of phone conversations were entered into evidence.

All together, 10 people and four companies had been charged with 49 crimes including bribery, embezzlement, abuse of office, money laundering, fraud and, in Cardinal Becciu’s case, witness tampering, a charge for which the court said it found no evidence.

In April 2021, the pope updated the laws governing the Vatican’s civil judicial system, stating that cardinals and bishops accused of a crime could be tried in a Vatican court, which, as it turned out, paved the way for the indictment three months later against Cardinal Becciu.

VATICAN CITY (CNS) – The Christmas season is a reminder to Christians that despite hardships, God chose to join himself to humanity and still remains by its side, Pope Francis said.

“Christmas is a reminder that God loves us and wants to be with us,” the pope told a group of children at the Vatican Dec. 15 during a meeting with representatives from the Italian Catholic Action movement.

The Incarnation, he said, “is a stupendous gift, and it brings with it another: that we may also love one another as brothers and sisters.”

“How much we need this today,” he added, “so many people, so many children suffer because of war.”

The children, who came from 14 dioceses across Italy, brought with them large paper stars to remember the children who have died from conflicts.

Pope Francis recalled that more than 3,000 children have died in Gaza since the outbreak of war in the Holy Land, as well as the more than 500 children that have died in Ukraine and the thousands that died during the years of war in Yemen.

“Their memory, in turn, invites us to be lights for the world, to touch the hearts of many people, especially those who can stop the whirlwind of violence,” the pope said.

He added that only by loving God and loving one another “can the world rediscover the light and the peace that it needs” and which was proclaimed by the angels who announced Jesus’ birth.

As a Christmas gift, the children gave the pope sleeping bags and personal hygiene products to be given to the papal almoner and donated to people in need.

Later in the day, the pope met with the organizers of a Christmas concert hosted at the Vatican for people in need.

“With music you present a moment of encounter, of sharing,” he told them. “In a word: fraternity. This is very consistent with the message of Christmas.”

Reflecting on the concert’s title, “Christmas Concert with the Poor and for the Poor,” the pope said moving from an attitude of being “for” the poor to one of being “with” the poor is key.

“One starts from the ‘for’ but wants to reach the ‘with,’ and this is very Christian,” he said. “God came for us, but how? In what way? By coming to live with us, by even becoming like us.”

Although the mystery of the Incarnation “leaves us without words,” Pope Francis said “we can experience it in the encounter with the other that is different than myself: when my giving something to him or her becomes a receiving, it becomes a sharing, it becomes friendship.”

The pope encouraged the organizers to pray so that they may be moved from an attitude of “for” to one of “with,” because “music is not enough, lights are not enough, decorations are not enough, no, it takes prayer.”

The concert, in its fourth edition, was set to take place in the Paul VI Audience Hall Dec. 15. The orchestra and chorus of Rome’s opera theater were scheduled to perform classics by Mozart, Rossini and Tchaikovsky, as well as Christmas songs such as “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World.”

SCRANTON – As he celebrated Masses for the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in both Scranton and Wilkes-Barre, the Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, told parishioners it is Mary’s journey of faith that can help each of us embrace the power and presence of God.

“Following her election by God to be the mother of the Savior, Mary immediately journeyed to visit Elizabeth. But her willingness to follow God’s invitation didn’t end with that encounter. She journeyed to Bethlehem where her son was born and then to Egypt to keep him safe for his mission. She journeyed to Cana where Jesus performed the first sign revealing his glory and then she followed Jesus all the way to the cross. And after Jesus’ resurrection, Mary journeyed with his disciples to receive the Spirit and to build the Church – the redeemed People of God,” Bishop Bambera said.

The bishop said Mary’s journey continued well beyond the earliest days of the Church.

“She journeyed all the way to Tepeyac to accompany Juan Diego. And she continues to this very day – to journey throughout our world, assisted by your prayers and devotions. She journeys to homes and prison cells, to hospital rooms, schools, rest homes, and even to our borders with those seeking refuge, safety, and peace,” he continued.

It is the appearance nearly five centuries ago, Dec. 9, 10, and 12, 1531 in Tepeyac, near present-day Mexico City, when God sent Mary as his messenger appearing before Blessed Juan Diego, an Aztec Indian, that brings out hundreds of people to celebrate the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in parishes all around the Diocese of Scranton. The Blessed Mother’s appearance is believed to have resulted in millions of conversions to Catholicism.

The Cathedral of Saint Peter was nearly filled on Dec. 10 for a Mass organized by Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish in South Scranton.

On Dec. 12, hundreds of others participated in a procession through the streets of Wilkes-Barre, ending with Mass celebrated at Saint Nicholas Church.

“She brings all of our communities together, especially with people coming from different countries,” Karla Andrade of Saint Theresa of Calcutta Parish said.

While the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is especially important to members of the Latino and Hispanic populations, she is the Patroness of the Americas, and we should all celebrate her.

“I feel so happy to be part of this celebration,” Wenceslao De La Cruz of Scranton said following Mass on Dec. 10 at the Cathedral of Saint Peter.

“It is something that is truly embedded into our communities, our homes, it is a huge celebration,” Jenny Gonzalez of Scranton said. “It’s a day when a lot of people gather together. They will pray and show a lot of gratitude but it’s also a day when they genuinely ask Our Lady of Guadalupe for something special for their families.”
Gonzalez really enjoyed watching all the young people take part in the Mass and reception which followed at the Diocesan Pastoral Center which featured music and dancing.

“It is really an important day not only for our community but also for our diocese,” she added.

Parishes in Brodheadsville, East Stroudsburg, Hazleton, Jermyn, Meshoppen, Plains and West Hazleton also held Feast Day celebrations.

LAFLIN – Nearly 200 people from across the Diocese of Scranton gathered together Nov. 18 to hear speakers Rhonda Gruenewald and Leticia Ramirez teach them how to foster vocations in our parishes.

Pastors first heard from Gruenewald at the annual Priest Convocation in October and were encouraged to invite parishioners to the Hundredfold Vocation Ministry workshops given in English and Spanish at Saint Maria Goretti Parish in Laflin.

The Most Rev. Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, led parishioners in prayer before the sessions began for the day. Rev. Alex Roche, Diocesan Vocation Director, then celebrated Mass and offered a commissioning prayer for the future vocation promoters present at the event.

Gruenewald, a Houston-based convert to Catholicism and founder of Vocation Ministry, shared the story of how her priest asked her and her husband to be part of their parish’s vocations committee. In turn, she said the nearly 200 parishioners in attendance at the workshop are now being called to do the same.

Once Gruenewald had established a foundation for vocation work in her parish, she was called to develop a plan to bring this ministry to the Diocese of Houston and now, after the release of her first book, Hundredfold: A Guide to Parish Vocation Ministry, to dioceses across the country.

At the Diocese of Scranton’s Hundredfold workshop, parishioners were given the tools to create an action plan for creating vocation-friendly parishes, discover programming opportunities offered by the Diocesan Vocations Office, and discuss possibilities for future vocation initiatives.

Gruenewald suggested that parishes host holy hours for vocations, encourage youth in the parish to write cards to their pastor for his ordination anniversary, implement a Traveling Chalice program, adopt a seminarian in prayer, and much more to promote vocations at the parish level.

Parishioners were also encouraged to promote Vocations Office events such as Quo Vadis Days, monthly XLT, and World Day of Prayer for Vocations.

To find out how you can help promote vocations in your parish and become part of this diocesan-wide ministry, please email vocations@dioceseofscranton.org or visit www.dioceseofscranton.org/vocations.

NANTICOKE – A beloved holiday tradition at Saint Faustina Kowalska Parish will continue this weekend as the play ‘Miracle at Bethlehem’ returns for a two-night showing.

The play, which depicts the birth, life, and death of Jesus Christ, will be performed on Saturday, Dec. 16, and Sunday, Dec. 17, at 7 p.m. at the Saint Faustina Cultural Centre, 38 W. Church Street, Nanticoke. All are welcome to attend. A free will offering will be taken.

“The way the play is performed by the cast, they believe in it, and it draws everyone into the story,” director Judy Minsavage said.

Father Brian Van Fossen, pastor, said the play helps the community relate to Jesus’ birth in a new way, as opposed to simply reading about it in Scripture.

“When you see it actually lived out and you see people actually being part of that story, it really enters you into that story,” Father Van Fossen explained. “Whether you can relate to Joseph and Mary wandering the streets or whoever has a grasp on your imagination and allows you to realize that Jesus was real.”

The presentation of the ‘Miracle at Bethlehem’ involves dozens of cast members and crew who handle lighting, sound and serve as ushers.

“The parish community works so hard at making sure the play is put forward and put forward in such a beautiful way,” Father Van Fossen added.

In years past, the play was performed at the beginning of December, but this year, it is being held closer to Christmas itself to help the audience enter into the true meaning of the holiday.

“Being closer to Christmas this year, I think the hustle and bustle of the Christmas holiday will be at its end and everyone will be ready to get into the real meaning (of the holiday) and how they really want to celebrate the birth of Christ,” Minsavage said.

With Hallmark Christmas movies beginning in the summer and Christmas music on the radio beginning just after Thanksgiving, Father Van Fossen believes the play, so close to Christmas, will help people to recognize the gift God gave to all of us.

“What this play allows us to do is break from that commercialism – to break from television and electronics – and to really ‘smell the hay’ and really allow those moments to really penetrate our lives,” he said.

SCRANTON — The beginning of the new liturgical year in the Catholic Church brought about new beginnings for six parishes in Scranton’s south and west sides.

Following a thorough period of discussion and consultation through the Vision 2030 Pastoral Planning Process, the parish communities of Saint John Neumann and Saint Paul of the Cross in South Scranton were consolidated on Nov. 26. The parish consolidations of Saint Ann Basilica and Saints Peter & Paul, West Scranton; and Saint Patrick and Saint Lucy, West Scranton, became official on Dec. 3.

Beginning in September, the four West Scranton parishes entered into two separate linkages, each shepherded by one pastor. The two South Scranton parishes linked in 2021.

Based on the Vision 2030 Process of examination of demographic changes in the communities, Mass attendance, sacramental participation, financial obligations and the availability of clergy, recommendations were proposed to create three parishes out of the previous six independent entities.

The consolidation of the two large South Scranton parishes has resulted in a new identity for the worship sites of Nativity of Our Lord Church, located at 633 Orchard St., and Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary Church, 1217 Prospect Ave., as the former parishes are now united under the new name of Saint Teresa of Calcutta Parish.

“United as one community of faith there is so much we can do together,” Father Jonathan Kuhar, pastor of the new parish under the patronage of the renowned saint of modern times, proclaimed in the inaugural parish bulletin on the Feast of Christ the King. “Let us begin this work by imagining new ways of being community to each other and creative ways of doing the work of discipleship in the world.”

Sunday Mass times at the parish churches are as follows: Nativity of Our Lord, 9:30 and 11 a.m.; Sacred Hearts of Jesus & Mary, 8 a.m. and 11 a.m. (Spanish).

Sacred Hearts Church serves as the site for the weekday morning Masses, Tuesday thru Friday, at 8 a.m., and a Saturday Vigil Mass at 4 p.m. Nativity Church offers a Spanish-language liturgy on Thursday at 7 p.m., and their weekend Vigil Mass on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.

Father Kuhar implored the prayerful intercession of the new parish’s patroness and the blessed patrons of the two former parishes — Saint John Neumann and Saint Paul of the Cross.

Encouraging his new, united flock to act with urgency in carrying out the Lord’s work, the pastor shared the inspiring words of Mother Teresa, known as the “Saint of the Gutters” who visited the Diocese of Scranton on several occasions:

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We only have today. Let us begin.”

Saint Ann Basilica Parish now encompasses the nearby former Saints Peter & Paul Parish and its longtime worship site at 1309 West Locust St. in West Scranton.

As pastor of Saint Ann’s, Father Jim Paisley has guided the two parishes since they were linked in September. In assuming the pastoral reins, he becomes the first Scranton Diocesan priest to lead the parish after more than a century of pastorates filled by clergy from the Passionist Order of priests.

“The people of both parishes have been very understanding of the need for a consolidation,” Father Paisley said. “Although no one wants to see this kind of thing happen to their church, parishioners know that certain changes need to take place in order to secure a strong and vibrant (Catholic) future in West Scranton.”

He added that, since September, faithful from both Saint Ann’s and Saints Peter & Paul’s have collaborated and meshed well to work together on various events and endeavors, minister at the altar, serve in the choir, and attend Masses.

“They are forming a new parish family identity with each passing day,” Father Paisley noted. “We are blessed.”

The Basilica Church of Saint Ann, 1250 Saint Ann St., West Scranton, offers Sunday Masses at 8:30 & 11 a.m. and 7 p.m.; and Monday Masses at 8 a.m., noon, 3:30 & 6 p.m. Weekday liturgies are also celebrated Tuesday thru Friday at 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.; Saturday Masses are at 9 a.m. and 4 p.m. (Sunday Vigil).

Saints Peter & Paul Church hosts a Sunday morning Mass at 11 a.m., and offers a Eucharistic liturgy on Monday at 9 a.m.

On a personal note, the new pastor acknowledged how members from the combined parishes have welcomed him with “open arms and loving hearts.”

“Both faith communities are kind and compassionate,” Father Paisley expressed, “and I am most grateful for their willingness to travel this journey of faith together.”

He further noted that the Passionist Community of Saint Ann’s Monastery and Basilica has been equally welcoming and supportive. “I am honored to share ministry of Saint Ann’s and Saints Peter and Paul’s with such a devoted Order of men.”

Under the spiritual leadership of their longtime pastor, Father Richard Fox, the consolidation of the Parish of Saint Patrick with Saint Lucy Parish adds to Saint Patrick’s a devout family of faithful and a third parish worship site.

“It’s been a smooth transition,” Father Fox remarked, concerning the other Catholic parish merger in Scranton’s West Side. He added that support staff and those involved in music ministry from both parishes have successfully combined their time and talents.

Saint Patrick Parish now includes Saint Lucy Church, 949 Scranton St., West Scranton, along with the IHM Chapel, 1605 Oram St., which the parish has overseen for numerous years.

Sunday Masses are celebrated at 7, 8:30 & 11 a.m. in Saint Patrick Church, 1403 Jackson St., which also celebrates 8 a.m. morning Masses on Monday, Wednesday and Friday; and a Saturday Vigil liturgy at 4 p.m.

Saint Lucy Church now hosts a Sunday morning Mass at 9 a.m.; the IHM Chapel offers 8 a.m. weekday Masses on Tuesday and Thursday, and a Vigil liturgy on Saturday at 5:30 p.m.

“We are blessed to bring together two very strong and proud parish communities,” Father Fox said of the new parish family. “Both churches, which are most venerable and rich in history, have been the sacred homes for a very long time to devout Catholics grounded in their faith.”